1200 calories :/ when will i lose weight?

First off hello everyone, im new to CC (joined Friday). I used all the tools ect, and was instructed to have 1200 calories to lose weight.

However, after reading several peoples posts I have noticed people saying its far to low and will cause weight to drop off too fast? i have been following this now since friday but would really like some advice from you guys! haha. Afterall its you who hae been doing so well in shifting the pounds

I am no expert nor am i complete success story but I do know that 1200 is the minimum a female adult should eat and that is when you are sedentary. If you exercise regularly you should eat atleast 1400 if not more.

I am 25, 5'3 and 187 lbs and I eat 1400-1600 cals depending on my level of workouts. I workout everyday ranging from intensive workouts to yoga and walks on rest days.

I would recommend you focus more on nutrition when making your new diet plan than just calories. Starving yourself after a life of indulgence cannot possibly go well with your body.

1200 is too low, no matter what CC says. CC is great but it's just a computer program. My guess is you either need to reset your activity level (my calorie recommendation was too low for awhile because I had my activity level set as "sedentary" when I was actually jogging regularly) or you need to set a more realistic desired rate of weight loss. But at 1200 calories, you'll be hungry and your body will rebel.

Also, the part about focusing on good nutrition and exercise and ignoring the scale for a while is good. You want this to be about being healthy, not being skinny by any means possible.

Very much agree with ootek. In order to reach your goal weight and then maintain it you are going to have to completely change your lifestyle. A diet is not just something you go on for 5 months until you drop the weight and then go right back to your old eating ways. You have to be transformed and it has to last forever if you want to keep the weight off once it comes off.

That said I think when people shoot for too low of a calorie target they get easily discouraged and feel like they can't sustain the program. Sometimes our bodies are rather uncooperative and you will feel like you are "doing everything right and working so hard" but nothing is happening! Set yourself up for success- view it as an all around goal to have a healthier lifestyle.

DO reduce your calories, but to something that you can manage and doesn't make you crazy. For most people that's the 1400-1600 range.

You will still lose weight at that range, especially if you are exercising. You won't lose it as quickly as if you went down to 1200 BUT what is more important... losing weight quick or being able to be happy with your "new life" and keep the weight off forever?

I eat between 1200-1400 calories a day. On days that I sit around the house I try to stick to 1200 calories. On more active days I will allow myself to eat more and usually end up around 1400 calories. Currently I'm burning an average of 1200 more calories than my intake and I'm losing about a pound every 3-4 days. So about 2.5 pound per week.

What has helped me though immensely is that I cut out caffeine. I drink an herbal coffee instead. The stuff is called Gano coffee and it helps to regulate blood sugars, blood pressure, hormone levels and metabolism. Each cup has 156 antioxidants in it.

Along with the coffee, I eat snacks throughout my day to keep me going. An apple, or a portion of Garden veggie straws (get those at Sam's Club). Usually I try to stick to things that are less than 150 calories throughout my day and then I eat a sensible meal at dinner and then have another snack before bed.

Sensible, healthy snacks are important to give your body the fuel it needs to keep burning all day long.

Did you enter in a goal date when you filled out your information? I understand wanting to lose weight by a certain date, but if in order to do so you have to eat a really low amount of calories, it's probably not the best way to go about it. In the long run, if you want to lose weight and keep it off, you'll need to up your calories. We have similar stats (I'm 22, 5'7'', 191lbs) i listed myself as light active and left my goal date blank. CC wants me to eat 1600 calories a day. I average around 1500, and I aim for the 1400 range on days i'm not as active. They say to keep a deficit between 500-1000 calories, for a safe healthy weight loss. Hope this helps.

Wow, this is curious. CC gave me 1300 calories a day. I'm 45 years old, 5'3", 250 and sedendary. I'm trying to move more, but haven't succeeded yet. I feel like CC is starving me. 1300 calories seems low to me. Anyone have an opinion?

I think that is too low as well, especially for your starting weight. I lost on 1600 last year and worked out 4 times a week. I would think you could eat that at least, even if you aren't too active yet.

According to research, it is not healthy to lose more than 2 lbs per week. Sooooooooo.........

it takes 3500 calories to burn 1lbs of fat. Now if my goal is to lose 2 pounds per week, this means I have to burn 7000 more calories more than I intake per week.

7000/7 = 1000 per day

Sooooooooo..........

I should be eating 2050 per day with vigorous exercise 7 days per week that burns 1000 calories per workout.

BUT you should have at least 1 day for rest so you would distribute the extra 1000 calories for each day. EITHER EXERCISE HARDER/LONGER FOR EACH DAY OR REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF CALORIES TAKEN TO COMPENSATE FOR THE REST DAY!!!

That's just the basics of calories. There are further steps into proper nutrition ratio's, types of foods, intake timing, when to workout, types of workouts, etc. I have done personal research for many years. I was 250 lbs with about 43% body fat. After 3 months I lost 50lbs. 9 months (on and off diets) after I was at 180. Then 2 months after of intense serious workout and dieting, I had a six pack!

I hope this works for you!

Oh here is my profile:

Male, 5'8'', 185 lbs (yes I have gained a little since then lol), age 25

Yea my workouts are intense. I burn about 800-900 per hour with 2 muscle workout. Then abs after to burn an additional 100.

500-600 per hour for a walk is great! I'm pretty sure you are power walking with that rate? What is your avg heart rate while walking? I'm pretty sure you know this (but just in case), target your heart rate to fat burning zone while walking.

With 12 min per mile walking, I am pretty sure you are hitting that though.

I would go for an at home workout routine like the p90x. I have seen many that have tried and lost A LOT of weight. People may say that it is for advance workouts but just pace yourself and do as much as you can. They provide diet plans and 1 hour long workout dvd's per day. Its a 3 month program. Try it out!